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Statoil Masters Tennis - Gonzalez: "Playing Here Stops Me Missing The Tour"; Roddick Ready; Mansour's Story Told IP: 82.33.29.192 Posted on December 6, 2014 at 01:43:24 PM by Jean
4th December, 2014
Gonzalez: Playing Here Stops Me Missing The ATP World Tour
The 2007 Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez started his ATP Champions Tour career with an impressive 6-4, 6-3 victory over Thomas Enqvist. Playing for the first time inside the Royal Albert Hall, the Chilean showed the Statoil Masters Tennis crowd that his famous forehand has lost none of its potency.
'That was really a lot of fun,' he said afterwards. 'It means a lot to play in front of a lot of people here and with really good players like Thomas. We were both hitting the ball really well and happily I felt really good on the court. The most important thing was that it was a really fun match.'
Gonzalez is a debutant at the Royal Albert Hall this year. And like everyone that steps onto the court for the first time, he was in awe at the splendour of the venue.
'This place is really beautiful,' he said. 'I enjoy so much being in front of a crowd like this, it stops me from missing being on the Tour. It was a great experience for me. I couldn't stop watching and looking around at the building. The Hall is amazing, it is unbelievable to be here.'
Gonzalez will now play off against Tim Henman on Saturday, with the winner guaranteed qualification for Sunday's final.
He said: 'I've played Tim many times on the Tour before, but this will obviously be the first time on the Champions Tour. 'He comes to the net a lot and I like to play against that kind of style. Always we have really good matches and I think it's going to be really fun to play him with a British crowd here.'
To view results and order of play for the week, go to http://www.atpchampionstour.com/results/results.aspx
Roddick’s Return Creates A Buzz
Andy Roddick will play his first matches at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday when he takes on Sergi Bruguera in singles in the afternoon and then joins up with Tim Henman to meet Ross Hutchins and Jamie Murray in the evening.
In the meantime, the media have enjoyed talking to him. He has done big interviews with the Daily Telegraph, Independent and Metro newspapers, appeared on Sky News Sunrise with Eamonn Holmes, and taken part in a BBC Radio tennis debate with Tim Henman and Pat Cash.
Independent - http://goo.gl/iWyeOY
Telegraph - http://goo.gl/D8twPx
BBC Radio Tells The Mansour Bahrami Story
Every year, spectators come to the Royal Albert Hall in their thousands to watch John McEnroe, Tim Henman and Pat Cash, and leave talking about Mansour Bahrami, the trick-shot artist.
Last night, as part of a one-hour tennis special from the Statoil Masters Tennis, BBC Radio 5 Live talked to Bahrami about his extraordinary life. It including the moving story about how he was beaten to the ground by guards when trying to play tennis for the first time in Iran, how he lost all of his money in Paris, and how he reached the French Open doubles final before going on to become one of the most entertaining players in history.
Earlier in the tennis show, Andy Roddick, Tim Henman and Pat Cash got together to discuss Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
To listen to the show, click here and download the podcast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/5lspecials Replies: There have been no replies.
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